Two: Enter the Dragon
First, know who you’re working for.
The Consultants’ Handbook
Their guest was perched precariously on the east curtain wall of the castle. The walkway on top of the wall was wide enough for eight men to pass abreast, but the dragon gripped it with his talons the way a parakeet grips its perch. Its enormous scaled head stretched well above the watchtowers. Wiz couldn’t see its tail, but judging by what he could see the dragon was a monster, two hundred feet long if it was an inch.
Although the courtyard and walls were deserted, the dragon had an audience. Wizards and others crowded the windows and doorways looking out into the East Court. There was another group at the double gate that led into the courtyard.
Even in silhouette Wiz recognized the bulk of Bal-Simba, the leader of the Council of the North, in the front. The large black wizard nodded to him over the heads of the others as he came up.
Next to him was the one-armed Master of Dragons who commanded the council’s dragon cavalry and Arianne, the tall blond woman who was Bal-Simba’s assistant.
The crowd parted as Wiz approached and he saw that the courtyard was not completely deserted. Out in its center sat Fluffy, n’e LRD. He was gazing up at the visitor and his tail switched back and forth like a fascinated cat’s. Caitlin and Ian were back in the shadows at a side door, huddled up against Shauna’s skirts like frightened chicks with a mother hen.
Wiz ducked back from the doorway.
“Quick,” he said to Bal-Simba, “tell me everything you know about dragons.”
The giant black wizard shrugged. “Easily done, since I know little enough. Adult dragons are morose, fierce and solitary creatures. They are greedy for treasure, skilled in magic and grow in size and intelligence seemingly without end.”
“How smart do you think that one is?”
Bal-Simba looked appraisingly at the shadow darkening the doorway. “I would say very smart indeed. Like lizards, dragons never stop growing, but their growth tapers off as they age. That one must be very old to be so large.”
“Great.”
He looked at the Master of Dragons, but the one-armed man just shrugged. “Lord, I can tell you of the care and training of young dragons, but I know nothing of them after they mature. As their brains begin to grow the psychic bond with their riders loosens and they become unmanageable. We release them long before they attain full intelligence.”
Wiz looked again. This dragon was not only bigger than the ones he knew, it was different. The scales had darkened to a dull gray-green, there were spines along its back and its teeth were much longer. The body was leaner and the whole effect was more predatory. The cavalry mounts were fearsome, but this thing was positively terrifying.
“Do not worry Wizard,” a voice at once warm and soft as honey and hard and cold as iron rang in his head. “I will not eat you. Not yet, anyway.”
“Uh, thanks,” Wiz said. Bal-Simba frowned and started to speak, but Wiz motioned him to silence. Obviously Wiz was the only one who could “hear” the dragon.
Again the honey-and-iron voice rang in Wiz’s skull. “You may call me Wurm.”
“Hello Wurm,” Wiz said. He took a deep breath and stepped out into the courtyard. The afternoon sun had warmed the flagstones and the air was balmy and sweet with the scent of roses. None of which made Wiz feel any less like a turtle on a freeway.
“Since my presence here seems somewhat disconcerting, may I suggest that we come to the point?”
“Sounds good to me. Ah, what is the point?”
“I have a proposition for you.”
“ ‘Proposition’ as in ‘job’?”
The dragon “shrugged” in Wiz’s mind. “If you want to put it so crudely.”
Wiz shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t hire out. There’s enough to do here.”
The dragon “sounded” amused. “I think once you have heard the terms you will reconsider.”
In spite of the mildness of the afternoon Wiz realized there was a trickle of sweat starting down his back. “Okay, what are the terms?”
“If you do this thing I will reward you richly. Gold, jewels, a heap of treasure higher than your head.” A dismissive mental “shrug.” “The usual.”
“What if I don’t take the job?”
The dragon craned his neck high into the sky and peered down at Wiz as if he were something small and soft that had just crawled from beneath a rock. “Then,” Wurm said with chilling calm, “I shall burn the town to ashes and ravage the countryside for miles around. And I shall continue until you do agree. Or until I am slain.”
Looking up at the monster, Wiz had no doubt Wurm could do it, or that he would.
“Uh, let me think this over, will you?” Wiz ducked back into the doorway where the others were waiting.
“How hard is it to kill a dragon?”
“Difficult,” Bal-Simba said in a low voice. “Dragons are inherently magical and their magic is extremely strong. Besides which they are large and powerful beasts.” He looked intently at Wiz. “Has it come to that?”
“No, but it might. He wants me to take on a job for him and he’s got a real strong negative incentive plan.”
“If we must fight him we had best buy time,” the giant black wizard said.
“I would advise you to ask him his proposition in detail.”
Wiz stepped back out into the courtyard. “Okay, look. I can’t decide on the spur of the moment, but I am willing to listen. Why don’t you tell me the details?”
The dragon paused, as if thinking. “Very well then. Come with me and I will show you what I wish.”
“Now I don’t know about . . .”
“Do you fear for your safety, Wizard?” Again Wurm sounded amused. “I told you I will not harm you and I will not. Besides,” and he lowered his huge head almost to Wiz’s level and cocked it like a chicken watching a worm, “what could I do to you elsewhere that I could not do to you here?”
“It’s not that,” Wiz assured him hastily. “It’s just that it’s not easy for me to just pack up and go. I mean I’ve got responsibilities here and . . .” Wurm raised his head above the castle wall. Then he daintily lifted a foreleg and inspected his three black front talons, each longer than Wiz was tall.
“I’m in the middle of these spells, you see . . .” Wiz continued weakly.
Without pausing to inhale, Wurm breathed a roaring jet of lambent blue flame perhaps fifty feet long. Wiz flinched back from the heat and noise. Behind him he heard screams as people stampeded for safety. But the dragon’s head was turned away from the Wizard’s Keep. Wurm extended his index talon until it was immersed in the fire. He held it there until the tip glowed bright red. Then he reached down and whetted the heat-softened claw on the rough stone of the castle wall. He left three smoking, foot-deep grooves in the stone before he was satisfied. Then he turned his attention back to Wiz.
“Now Wizard,” the dragon said mildly, “you were saying?”
“Can you give me ten minutes to pack?”